Sudan’s relationship with foreign aid agencies and the UN- African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) has long been tense, with expulsions and obstruction often the reward for anyone reporting on rights abuses during the seven-year rebellion.
After the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Bashir for war crimes in Darfur last year, he expelled 13 aid organizations. Khartoum says they gave the ICC evidence concerning Darfur.
“The heads of the UNHCR (UN refugee agency) and FAO (Food and Agriculture) agencies in West Darfur as well as the head of UNHCR agency in Zalengei have been asked to leave,” Abdallah Al-Fadil, head of UNAMID in West Darfur, told Reuters on Monday.
Another UN source who declined to be named said the FAO head of office in West Darfur was told to leave because he had forwarded a petition against hunger and authorities had said he did not obtain approval for it.
On Aug. 7 Bashir told the three Darfur governors they could expel any foreigner who failed to respect Sudan’s authority.
UNAMID is in a tense standoff with Darfur authorities over sheltering six refugees from the volatile Kalma camp who the government says are responsible for violence which killed eight people last month.
The peacekeepers say that without an arrest warrant or guarantees of a fair trial they will not hand over the refugees, a position which has infuriated the government.
Kidnappings of foreign aid workers and UNAMID staff began last year after the ICC warrant for Bashir was issued. On Saturday two Jordanian UNAMID police were abducted and a US woman from the Samaritan’s Purse charity was taken three months ago.
The kidnappers usually are young men from Arab tribes who demand ransom money. Sudan has yet to prosecute any of the abductors.